HERSHEY - The Downingtown West High School boys soccer team definitely enjoyed its visit to Hershey on Tuesday night. So much so, that they wouldn’t mind making a return trip to the self-proclaimed Sweetest Place on Earth again in 10 days.

The Whippets, who were the fifth and final District 1 team to earn a state tournament berth, knocked off District 3 champion Hempfield by a score of 1-0 in their opening round PIAA Class AAA playoff match on Tuesday at Hersheypark Stadium.

Junior Brett Coper scored the lone goal of the game for Downingtown West (17-3-3 overall) on a penalty kick midway through the first half, and that was enough, along with an outstanding defensive effort, to send them into the state quarterfinals on Saturday against LaSalle at a neutral site and time to be determined.

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The Whippets are now two more wins away from reaching the state title game on Nov. 17 back at Hersheypark Stadium.

“Hershey’s been very good to us,” said Downingtown West coach John Hatt, whose squad captured the 2008 state crown the last time they played in Hershey. “We’re thrilled to death with how hard our kids are competing. We’re still improving each and every game too and that’s a real credit to these players.”

Downingtown West, after losing in the district quarterfinals to Souderton, bounced back to win two games in the consolation bracket to earn the district’s last state playoff berth, including a 1-0 win over Ches-Mont champion West Chester Rustin last Saturday to qualify for states.

After Tuesday night’s first round, Downingtown West is the only remaining District 1 team still among the eight squads left in the PIAA Class AAA playoffs.

The Whippets completely dominated the first half, and were awarded a penalty shot when Luke Maruca was taken down from behind in the box with 20:02 to go in the opening stanza. Coper took the ensuing penalty shot, and buried it into the bottom left corner to make it 1-0.

“We’ve been doing penalty kicks a lot in practice lately, so I felt pretty confident on my kick,” said Coper. “I purposely didn’t even look at the goalie, I knew ahead of time where I was going with it and that’s what I did.

“It feels pretty good winning a game in states. There’s been so many upsets in these tournaments so far, and even though they were the District 3 champions we could’ve cared less basically. We know that anything is possible at this point, and we just have to keep working hard.”

The Whippets thoroughly controlled play in the first half and could’ve easily led by multiple goals if not for the sensational play of Hempfield goalie Brian Gately (10 saves).

With West already up 1-0, Gately made a great stop on Dan Wilkenson with 12:50 left. Then with 8:01 to play, he robbed Justin Obendorfer of a goal after he made a terrific flick onto net following a cross on an indirect kick. Once more in the half, with 6:04 left, Gately again robbed West of a goal when he stuffed a close-range rebound attempt by Justin Rhines.

The Whippets nearly had another penalty shot early in the second half when Wilkenson was taken down from behind on a breakaway with 27:03 to play, but there was no call on the play.

West simply held on down the stretch against a Hempfield team who had rallied to win the District 3 crown as the No. 12 seed, doing so by winning four straight 1-0 games.

“In the state tournament we know all the teams are good and they have talent,” said Hatt. “Our kids were excited to play here tonight and they certainly weren’t intimidated.

“Our whole success is based on how hard we compete. When we compete like we did tonight we feel we have a shot against anybody.”

Downingtown West goalie Zach Steffen made the majority of his eight saves in the second half. Some of those game in the final 10 minutes with a desperate Hempfield squad pressing for the equalizer.

“They were launching a lot of balls forward towards the end hoping to get flicks on net,” said Steffen. “Our midfield completely controlled this game. They got back when they had to, and they won most of the balls and kept things to the outside as much as possible.

“We’re a pretty confident team right now. We just have to keep working hard and maybe we’ll be back here soon.”